Adjunct Faculty at the University of Alabama

DR. EDMOND WILLIAMS (Department Chair) Dr. Williams has been a Professor of Theatre and Chairman of the UA Department of Theatre and Dance since its formation in 1979. His production of Edward Bond's Lear was honored with its selection to the national level of the American College Theatre Festival and was performed at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Dr. Williams has been recognized with Druid Arts Awards for "Best Production of a Play" and "Theatre Educator". In 1996 he was honored by the National Alumni Association of the University of Alabama with their "Outstanding Commitment to Teaching" Award. Dr. Williams is a past president of the Alabama Theatre League and the Southeastern Theatre Conference. Former Chairman of the Commission on Accreditation Dr. Williams now serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Schools of Theatre, and he was recently elected the National Theatre Conference, an honorary organization of movers and shakers of the American Theatre.

WILLIAM TEAGUE (Lighting Design/Technical Production) Mr. Teague, a Professor of Theatre, teaches design and technical theatre. In addition to this theatrical work, he is represented in other media as well. He has designed scenery for Alabama Public Television and was Production Designer for the feature motion picture, Rebel Love. Mr. Teague wrote and supplied graphics for the Computer Assisted Design section of Scene Design and Stage Lighting, the most widely used text in technical theatre. He has also served as a theatre consultant on restorations and new facilities around the Southeast. He is the vice president for Special Operations for the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, the 1995 winner of the USITT Southeast Region "Outstanding Educator of the Year" Award, former President of the Alabama Conference of Theatre and Speech, and a member of SETC, as well as USITT. In 2004 he received the "Outstanding Commitment to Teaching" Award from the UA National Alumni Association.

ASF Faculty

GEOFFREY SHERMAN (Producing Artistic Director) Mr. Sherman has been responsible for the world and national premieres of scores of plays—from David Hare’s Knuckle to Alice Childress’ Moms, as Artistic Director of Off-Broadway’s Hudson Guild Theatre, Oregon’s Portland Repertory Theatre and Michigan’s Meadow Brook Theatre.  In New York City, his work as producer and director garnered two Obies, as well as Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Audelco nominations.  He has received Best Production and Best Director Awards from every major newspaper in Michigan, for plays ranging from Angels In America and Arcadia to The Old Settler and The Rocky Horror Show.  His work as a guest director has been seen at over forty theatres on both sides of the Atlantic including New York’s Roundabout and American Jewish Theatres; England’s Redgrave and Crucible Theatres; and US regionals including Seattle Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Center Stage Baltimore, Utah’s Pioneer Theatre and Studio Arena, Buffalo.  His work for television includes Another World for NBC and Woman’s Day USA for the USA cable network.  He was most recently producing artistic director of Michigan’s BoarsHead Theatre.

MIKE VIGILANT (Chief Operating Officer, Co-Director of Theatre Management Program) Michael has been involved with writing and producing plays and musicals for a couple of decades—give or take a few years. As a playwright and lyricist he has more than a dozen works published with Samuel French, Contemporary Drama Service and Pioneer Drama Service. Five of his plays have been picked as catalogue covers. Award winning works include Cindy Cinderella (Page Award for Best Musical) and The Wedding Ring (MAPT Award for New Work). For his lyric writing efforts Mike has received five ASAP project grants. In his pre ASF days, Mike was a playwright resident and public relations manager for Michigan’s Meadow Brook Theatre, where he happily worked with his favorite artistic director Geoffrey Sherman. Most recently, Mike was the COO and Marketing Director for Detroit’s historic 1,700 seat Music Hall where his team presented and marketed Broadway tours, modern dance and major concerts featuring legendary performers such as Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach, Linda Ronstadt, Aaron Neville, Michael MacDonald and Smokey Robinson. As part of his Music Hall duties Mike also served as COO/Marketing Director for the Detroit International Jazz Festival, North America’s largest free jazz event, which draws one million people to downtown Detroit each year. Mike and his wife Sandra have two daughters, Meredith and Kristen.

ALICIA JOHNSON-REED (Director of Marketing and Communications, Co-Director of Theatre Management Program) Alicia has worked as a Speech and Drama Instructor for the Birmingham City School System, the Los Angeles Unified School District, UAB Special Studies and Virginia Samford Theatre. She has worked as the Artistic Director and Drama Day Camp Coordinator for the Academy of the Fine Arts Inc., the University of Alabama at Birmingham Special Studies Summer Children’s Theatre, the Alys Stephens Center Performing Arts Camp and her own community theatre company, Make It Happen Theatre.  She has been an Artist in Residence for the Los Angeles Watts Tower and cultural arts writer for both the Los Angeles Watts Times and the Birmingham Times.  She has also served as a committee member for the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival, been a docent for the Los Angeles African American Museum of Art, a publicist of L.A. Unity Player, and a participant of the Lincoln Center Aesthetic Education in the Arts Program in New York. In addition, she has had the privilege of working for Babyface Edmonds in his production company, Edmonds Management, and has been the casting assistant in the office of Robi Reed and Associates on such popular television series as Sister, Sister and Soul Food. Alicia has her MFA in Theatre Management and Arts Administration from the University of Alabama. Before taking on this position, she served as the Audience Development Manager at ASF.  Currently she is an Arts Mentor at Alys Stephens Center and an Audience Development Consultant for both the Birmingham Summerfest Theatre and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. 

THOMAS ADKINS (Co-Director of Theatre Management Program) Thomas is a graduate of the Theatre Management/Arts Administration program here at UA.  Recently he served as a producer on the off-off-Broadway production Dammit, Shakespeare! (written by fellow UA professor Seth Panitch) at Urban Stages in New York City. His professional career has also included serving as Company Manager for the Clarence Brown Theatre, the LORT D professional theatre-in-residence at the University of Tennessee; Production Stage Manager for university and professional theatres in the southeast; Box Office Manager; and spent a year in New York studying with producers and publicists for the Broadway community.  At UA he directs the Graduate Program in Theatre Management, teaches theatre management on the undergraduate level, and serves as leader in the Marketing, Front of House, and Box Office efforts.

SUSAN WILLIS (Theatre History) Susan has been dramaturg at ASF since 1985.  She directed ASF’s 2005 production of The Taming of the Shrew, the 2004 Steel Magnolias, and the premieres of Fair and Tender Ladies and The Moving of Lilla Barton as well as Graduate Acting productions of Twelfth Night, The Winter’s Tale, Love’s Labour’s Lost and many SWP readings and MFA workshop productions. She also   implements ASF’s Theatre In the Mind program.  Outside the theatre, she is Professor of English at Auburn University Montgomery and author of The BBC Shakespeare Plays: Making the Televised Canon.  MFA Faculty.

Eve Loeb (Development Director) Eve has been Development Director at ASF since 1995. She has also served as Assistant Director of Advancement for Development for Auburn University at Montgomery, Director of Volunteer Services for Baptist Health Services, and was the Founding Executive Director of Central Alabama Community Foundation, Inc.

Timothy H. O'Connell (Production Manager) Timothy comes to ASF via the New York area. He has had the pleasure to work with several notable companies and productions throughout his career. One of the most notable is Crossroads Theatre Company, the premiere African-American theatre company and 1999 Tony Award Winner for Outstanding Regional Theatre. He also worked off-Broadway and on Broadway as Production Manager. His works include It Ain't Nothing but the Blues at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Havana is Waiting at The Cherry Lane Theatre, Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged at The Century Center, and Cobb at The Lucille Lortel. He has also worked outside the theatre world on such projects as 2002 GQ Man of the Year, Mercedes E-Motion Tour, The Spitkicker Tour featuring Biz Markie, Dela Soul and Common, Entertainment Weekly 20th Anniversary Party and the MTV College Evasion Tour (Dela Soul).

Linda Dean (Education Director) Linda has been Director of Education at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival since 1996. Dean oversees the Theatre in the Mind lecture series, teacher seminars, Alfa SchoolFest student matinee program, Camp Shakespeare, artist/teacher residencies in schools, ASF Academy, and teaches in the ASF/UA graduate program in Theatre Management. She has served as secretary of the executive board of Shakespeare Theatre Association of America, president of the Alabama Writers’ Forum, and is a Fellow of the Salzburg Seminar. Prior to joining ASF, Dean taught at college as well as secondary levels and edited for several major textbook companies. She holds an M.A. in English from Auburn University.